The Code of Federal Regulations, Title 49, Section 218 prescribes minimum requirements for railroad operating rules and practices. Among other things, Section 218 sets out minimum requirements for the protection of railroad employees engaged in the inspection, testing, repair and servicing of rolling equipment whose activities require them to work on, under or between such equipment subjecting them to the danger of personal injury posed by any movement of such equipment. One such requirement is that "blue signals" be displayed by workmen who are working on or around rolling equipment, wherein a "blue signal" is a clearly distinguishable blue flag or blue light by day or a blue light by night. A blue signal thus signifies that workmen are on, under, or between rolling equipment on the track, and that other rolling equipment may not enter the track except under specific conditions. The present invention is a hazard light which can be used as a "blue signal," either for railroad or maritime applications, although the hazard light of the present invention can be used in other contexts and for other purposes. For the sake of brevity, the remaining discussion will focus on use of the hazard light of the present invention as a "blue signal" for railroad workmen.
The prior art includes several "blue signals" pursuant to Section 218. As discussed above, blue flags can be used, but only during daylight hours. Moreover, flags are not particularly noticeable, even during the day. Blue lights have also been employed, but the typical blue railroad hazard light includes one or more heavy lantern batteries. Also, the typical lantern-style hazard light is simply set on the track and is incapable of being conveniently secured to rolling equipment. This necessitates relocating the light(s) every time the rolling equipment is even slightly moved. Further, the typical hazard light provides a fairly narrow or concentrated light beam which is noticeable only by someone who is aligned with the concentrated beam. Still another problem with prior art hazard lights is their lack of durability and sensitivity to shock and orientation.
The present invention addresses the problems associated with prior art railroad hazard lights. In particular, a preferred embodiment of the invention is a blue signal light which is portable, readily attachable to rolling equipment, durable, energy-efficient, orientation-insensitive and which reflects, scatters or disperses a concentrated beam to make the light more readily noticeable irrespective of viewing angle.